The present invention relates generally to the field of mobile radio telephony, and more particularly to a method and system for sending general information messages to users in a mobile radio network.
The usage of mobile radio telephony has increased enormously in many parts of the world during the past decade, and mobile telephones have become commonplace possessions. As a consequence of this, the coverage areas of the mobile radio networks have increased, and in many countries, most of the inhabited areas experience mobile radio coverage. This provides an excellent opportunity for the supply of general information to many people at a time, on a geographical selected basis, i.e. to people who are located within a certain geographical region. Since many of the mobile radio telephony standards used around the world provide data services as well as speech services, information can be supplied to the mobile radio subscribers in writing.
Such possibilities of information supply can be very useful for a number of different information suppliers, such as road keepers informing about the local state of the road, the police informing about an incident, operators of mobile telephone networks informing about temporary discounts on calls, store keepers informing about sales, etc. The number of situations where this type of information supply service could be of use is about endless.
In the Global Systems for Mobile communication (GSM) standard, there is a service defined called Short Message Service (SMS) Cell Broadcast, which provides an information supplier with the possibility of broadcasting a message to the GSM users within a certain geographical region, see GSM Technical Specification (TS) 03.02. The geographical region in which a SMS Cell Broadcast message is broadcast is defined on a per message basis and can include one or more cells, or even an entire Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN). An SMS Cell Broadcast message is broadcast cyclically by the Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) in the defined geographical region at a frequency and duration specified by the information supplier.
However, in order to receive a SMS Cell Broadcast message, a mobile subscriber must at an initial stage have set his mobile station in the mode for receiving SMS Cell Broadcast. In some GSM networks, the subscriber also has to choose, in the mobile station, which information categories he is interested in receiving, since the messages broadcast are divided into different categories. This is a rather awkward operation, and few subscribers to GSM services know about the SMS Cell Broadcast service. Thus, the information supplier only reaches the mobile subscribers who have actively chosen to receive SMS Cell Broadcast messages, and the subscribers who have not set their mobile stations in the mode for receiving such messages will miss the information broadcast.
An object of the present invention is to provide, in a mobile radio network, a service by which suppliers of general information can supply general information to the mobile radio network users in a certain geographical area, without the users having to set their mobile stations in the mode for receiving such information.
According to the invention, this has been solved by a method and system for sending a general information message to a mobile station in a mobile radio network. A mobile station in the network is capable of sending location update messages to the mobile radio network, where these location update messages include information of the location of the mobile station and an identity of the subscriber using the mobile station.
The invention method comprises the steps of registering the general information message in a general information message register in the mobile radio network, including registering an identification of served area; receiving a location update message from the mobile station; comparing the identification of served area with the information of the location of said mobile station included in the location update message; determining whether said general information message should be sent to said mobile station based on the result of the step of comparing; and said sending said general information message to said mobile station if, in the step of determining, it is determined that said general information message should be sent.
The inventive system comprises general information message registering means for registering the general information message, in which at least an identification of served area can be registered; receiving means for receiving a location update message from the mobile station; comparing means for comparing the identification of served area with the information of the location of said mobile station included in the location update message; determining means for determining whether said general information message should be sent in the mobile station; and sending means for sending a general information message to the mobile station.
By the system and method of the present invention is achieved that a supplier of general information can reach users of mobile telephony in a certain geographical region without having to rely on the users having set their mobile stations in the mode for receiving such information. It is further achieved that a user of mobile telephony will not miss any general information relevant to the geographical area in which he is presently located due to the fact that he has not set his mobile station in the mode for receiving such information.
In one aspect of the invention, wherein the mobile radio network comprises at least one Mobile Services switching Center (MSC), the location of the general information message registering means is in an MSC. Hereby is achieved that the signaling in the system is minimized when the location updating message is sent to the MSC.
In another aspect of the invention, wherein the mobile radio network comprises at least one Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN), the location of the general information message registering means is in an SGSN. Hereby is achieved that the signaling in the system is minimized when the location updating message is sent to the SGSN.
In one aspect of the inventive method, the step of registering general information messages further includes the step of registering at least one type of location update to be used for triggering sending of the general information message; and the step of comparing further comprises the step of comparing the at least one type of location update registered in said step of registering with the type of the location update message received in the step of receiving. In one aspect of the inventive system, the general information message registering means further comprises registering means for registering at least one type of location update to be used for triggering sending of the general information message; and the comparing means further comprises means for comparing the at least one type of location with the type of a location update message received by the receiving means.
Hereby is achieved that the operator of the mobile network, or the supplier of general information, can determine which type(s) of location updating should trigger sending of the general information message.
In another aspect of the present invention, the general information message is an Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (USSD) message and correspondingly, in one aspect of the inventive system, the location of the sending means is in an MSC/VLR. Hereby is achieved that a mobile station capable of receiving network initiated USSD messages is capable of receiving the general information message.
In a further aspect of the present invention, the general information message is a Short Message Services (SMS) message, and correspondingly, in one aspect of the inventive system, the location of the sending means is in an SMS Service Centre. Hereby is achieved that a mobile station capable of receiving SMS messages is capable of receiving the general information message.
In yet another aspect of the invention, wherein the mobile radio network comprises at least one location register, the inventive method further comprises the steps of indicating, in a location register, whether the subscriber of the mobile station is a subscriber to general information messages and checking in the location register whether the subscriber is a subscriber to such messages. Furthermore, the step of determining is further based on the result of the step of checking. One aspect of the inventive system further comprises indicating means for indicating in a location register whether the subscriber using the mobile station is a subscriber to general information messages and checking means for checking in the location register whether the subscriber is a subscriber to such messages. Hereby is achieved that a subscriber in a mobile radio network may choose whether or not to receive general information messages. It is further achieved that the operator of the mobile radio network may provide different subscriptions to subscribers who would like to receive general information messages and subscribers who would not like to receive such messages.